Four Summers

"I see. So, what do you propose?"

"How about I be a pretend big sister, not officially with that great organization, but casually, you know, just between us?"

"I see. Uh, how would it work? And do you think Luke would feel left out?"

"I think it all depends on how it's presented. We're at the end of our official counseling, so I'll let the kids know I will step back and be available if they want to talk with me in the future. I'll wait a month or so and then I'll call Zoey and ask her to go with me to some girly thing, maybe a junior fashion show at the mall. I can say I'm looking for gift ideas for a friend's daughter, who's about her age."

"That could work. Maybe I could use the time to take Luke to a ball game."

"Good idea. Keep it quiet, but don't be surprised when I call."

"You know, I really appreciate it. This is way beyond the call of duty."

"Adam, I want you to know that your kids are extra special. I have enjoyed getting to know them and have been pleased at how well they've done. I'm quite fond of them and I want to make sure Zoey continues to do well."

Three weeks later I received a call from Chris. She told me this was her first call to Zoey, so I handed her the phone. Zoey sounded shy and surprised at the call, but she warmed up immediately when she realized she was being invited to a fashion show.

"Dad, Dad, Dr. Chris wants to take me to the mall and a fashion show. Can I go? Can I?"

I pretended to be thoughtful, asked her when and for how long, and what she planned. Zoey would be picked up on Saturday afternoon for three to four hours. I looked at Luke who seemed to be a little hurt but he grinned when I told him, "Fashion shows are for girls, Luke. Wanna hit an Otter game with me the same day?" Chris and I made final arrangements and I encouraged her to take all the time she needed and that way Luke and I wouldn't be rushed.

Zoey was on cloud nine all morning and Luke appeared excited, as well. Chris arrived as Luke and I were heading out the door. I extracted a promise from Zoey to 'behave and be nice' as Luke and I left. The game was a great hit with Luke. His favorite player hit a homer in the fourth and got a sac fly in the ninth to win the game. We ate crap from the vendors and I let him have a second Coke while I nourished a beer for most of the game.

When we got home, I saw Chris' car parked on the street and once we were in the garage, I heard laughter and giggling from the kitchen. Inside I was met with a beautiful sight: the two were finishing making a cake. Zoey had flour dust on her nose and her apron was smudged with chocolate icing. She ran to me and told he how much fun they'd had. I heard a description of each outfit until Chris laughed and teasingly told her to not bore her dad with all the details. Luke had to tell her about the game and she seemed genuinely interested and talked with him for a while until she mentioned she had to go.

I escorted her to her car and she whispered Zoey was a delight to be with and they had a chance to just be 'girls.' "You have a wonderful daughter," Chris said, "And I'd like to do this again sometime. I think she'll open up to me over time. I hope so."

"I do too. And Chris, thanks for your concern and taking her out today."

"Adam, it was my pleasure. I truly enjoyed being with her. She's a really sweet kid."

And that's how a routine of Chris and Zoey spending time together every several weeks started. Usually, it was for only few hours but it gave Luke and me the opportunity to do 'guy' things without the big sister hanging around. Once their session was fairly early in the day and they were back by midafternoon and Chris stayed and helped me with some gardening I was working on. She left several hours later just before dinner.

Third Summer

Their 'girls' days,' as I called them, continued on for the better part of a year. It was that next June when Zoey asked Chris a couple of times to stay for dinner but the invites were politely declined. Zoey seemed a bit saddened after the second invite and so I took her aside and asked if she really wanted Chris to have a meal with us.

"Yes, Dad, she's super cool."

"OK, so the next time you two get together, I'll try to arrange it. OK? But don't tell her."

It was around this same time my mother, who had already encouraged me to start seeing women again, called with an offer.

"Adam, we want to take care of the kids for a week in the next month or so. We know they're on summer break so can you arrange some time off for yourself? Go on a vacation, maybe?"

"I don't know, Mom, I'd have to think about it."

"Adam, this isn't an offer, it's an order," she laughed. "You have to get away. It's been nearly two years and you have to play, get away from it all. And I never thought I would tell my child this, but maybe you need to get laid, too," she laughed again.

"Mom!"

"Oh, Son, get real. You're a male in the prime of life. I know you miss Em, but you have to move on. Look, is there anyone you could invite on a quick trip?"

"No, there's no one special, Mom. Let me think about it and get back to you. And thanks for the offer, I mean it."

For the next week I spent several hours daily looking at travel options. Eventually, I happened upon a last-minute special on a singles cruise in the Caribbean. It would be for six days/five nights and they had openings for three more single men. I thought about it and decided to go. Once I made reservations, I let my mom know about it and that evening I told the kids.

"Hey, you two. Nana and Gramps are coming to visit for a week or so. Interested?" There was an enthusiastic response and I went on to tell them I'd be on a quick trip myself.

"Dad, are you going with anyone?" asked Zoey.

"No, all by myself. I need to get away from work and a quick vacation is in order. But later this summer I want to take you two to Yellowstone. How's that sound?"

They were OK with my vacation plan and excited about Yellowstone. After my final plans were made and about a week or so before I was to leave, Chris called. We chatted for a few minutes and I told her the kids, Zoey especially, wanted her to come for dinner.

"Adam, that's sweet, but I'd feel odd about it."

"Why? Zoey has so much fun with you and she does want this. You're not thinking of this from a professional standpoint, are you?"

"Ahh, well, no, not really. I just don't want to impose. And, I don't want Zoey to read into this anything more than a 'big sister' kind of thing."

Just then Zoey came into the room and so I told Chris that Zoey was right there and handed off the phone. They made arrangements for an afternoon on the weekend and the phone was handed back to me and I decided to not speak in front of Zoey about the meal. I broke the call to Zoey's dismay.

"Dad, did you forget? You were going to ask her to dinner."

"I'm sorry, Kiddo. I'll tell you what. I'll call her tomorrow and see if I can convince her to come here and try my bad cooking. OK?"

With Zoey's approval, I made plans to call Chris the next day, which I did. I ended up talking with her for quite some time before I broached the subject of a dinner. But I surprised her and myself by suddenly asking her to lunch.

"Chris, Zoey wants you to come over for dinner after one of your 'girls days.' Could I entice you to have lunch with me at Paul's Deli to discuss it in more detail?"

"Why, Adam, I'm pretty busy most days and I grab a bite in the office. Uh, I do have an extra thirty minutes this Wednesday and could meet you at Paul's. How about twelve fifteen?"

I agreed and found myself at the appointed time at Paul's just as Chris walked up. I greeted her with a friendly smile and she gave me a tiny one-armed hug. We went through the line chatting about nothing in particular and then took our seats. It was fairly loud in the deli. Their tables were small and our knees kept bumping as we leaned towards each other to talk. After the sandwiches were finished, I brought up the subject of dinner.

"Chris, you have no idea how grateful I am to you for all your time you've spent with Zoey."

"Adam, she is a delightful young lady. Your son is also a charmer, by the way. You know, she has opened up to me quite a bit. I've been able to prepare her for her periods. We got her some pads she carries with her. And I've been able to talk with her about sex a little. By the way, she'll need some training bras pretty soon, so I could help there, if it's OK with you."

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great. I'll give her extra money so she can pay for them."

"You know," she went on, "She's got a pretty good head on her shoulders. She's told me she likes boys, but as friends, nothing more. I find myself looking forward to my time with Zoey. Maybe it is some suppressed maternal instinct, I don't know," she laughed.

"Well, she really wants you to come to dinner after one of your little get-togethers. Do you think you might reconsider?"

"OK, I'll do it. But you need to understand something. I kinda think she's trying to push you and me together."

"Yeah?"

"Umm-hmm."

"Hmm. Interesting. Hadn't thought of that."

"If I can put on my psychologist hat for a second...I think she's looking for a new mom."

"Uh, I see. Now it makes sense. The other day I told them I was going on a vacation while they spent time with my parents and she wanted to know if I was going with anyone."

"Are you?"

"No, there's no one like that in my life now, not at all. I'm just not ready, not yet, anyway. So, what about dinner? If you agree to come, I'll make sure Zoey does the lion's share of the prep work before you take her and we can do our final cooking when you return."

"OK. Let her know I expect to have a feast fit for a queen," she chuckled. "And I have no dietary restrictions."

"Great. Thank you. I know Zoey will be ecstatic." With that, we finalized the details for the weekend and I told Zoey that evening. She promised to help out as much as she could.

On Saturday Zoey was up at the crack of dawn. She was so excited she ate a quick breakfast and dragged me to the kitchen. "What do I need to do, Dad?"

"Well, we're going to grill some small steaks and have grilled vegetables, as well. You'll need to cut up the onions, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini and summer squash. We can marinade them while you're gone. I'll take care of the steaks. Potatoes or rice?"

"Baked potatoes, please. And for dessert? Can we keep it simple? You know, ice cream?"

With our meal all planned, she hopped up on a foot stool and diligently cut the vegetables, added olive oil and a vinaigrette to make the marinade and scrubbed the potatoes. I was proud at how well she did all the work and told her so.

After our quick lunch, Chris picked up Zoey for a few hours while Luke and I worked on making some bird houses. I spent time making sure he could handle the hand tools while I used the table saw. Around four the girls came back. Zoey was all excited about the shopping they'd done, though she gave no details in front of Luke. Luke was proud of his handiwork and spent time showing it to Chris. I offered Chris a glass of wine and the kids had ginger ale. Zoey cleared her throat and said, "I propose a toast. To Dr. Chris, who helped me so much this last year." "Here, here!"

The Luke chimed in, "To Dr. Chris, who takes my dweeb sister off our hands so Dad and I could do some fun stuff," he laughed. "Here, here!"

Then I added, "To Dr. Chris, who has helped all of us. Thank you." "Here, here."

I looked closely at her and she was blinking furiously, apparently trying to blink away some tears. "To all of you," she toasted, "Thank you very much for your kind thoughts."

We had our drinks before Zoey and I went about preparing the meal. Luke took Chris outside where they seemed to be deep in conversation until they were called in for the meal. It seemed everyone enjoyed themselves but right after dessert, Zoey mentioned my upcoming trip.

"You know, Nana and Gramps are coming to stay in a week so Dad can go on a summer vacation."

"Oh, I heard," said Chris, "And where are you going?"

I was a bit embarrassed to answer so I kept the answer as brief as I could. "Oh, a quick cruise out of Miami, that's all."

"Are you going with anyone?" she asked, even though I had already told her a few days prior.

"No, just me. It was a last-minute thing. I'll be nice to get away from work for a week."

"Yeah, Dad said it was a 'singles cruise' so maybe he'll meet someone nice," piped up Luke. I could have strangled him.

"Well," she replied, "I'm sure you'll have fun. Hey, look, it's getting late, I've a busy day tomorrow and I need to be heading out," she said rather abruptly. "Thank you so much for the meal. Zoey, you are a fantastic cook. Keep it up," she smiled, but, as the saying goes, the smile did not reach her eyes.

I escorted Chris to the door and thanked her for taking Zoey shopping. She turned away quickly so I had to ask. "Chris, is everything OK? You seem upset."

"No, I'm just tired," she answered somewhat dismissively. "Have a good trip. I'll call Zoey in two or three weeks."

With the somewhat unpleasant tone still ringing in my ears, she walked to her car and drove away without looking back at me. I couldn't figure it out. Was she upset at something about my trip? Everything had been pleasant until that was brought up. I turned back to the house and Luke and I cleaned up in the kitchen.

That evening I took a little extra time with each kid at bedtime. Luke was exhausted and barely stayed awake while I chatted with him about the bird houses. Zoey was a bit more talkative.

"Dad, Dr. Chris helped me buy some bras today, is that OK with you?"

"Sure, Sweetheart, that's a girl thing and I don't think I would have been at all helpful at the store."

"She seemed upset at the end; don't you think?"

"No," I lied, "She told me she was a bit tired and just wanted to get home."

"Good, 'cause I really like her and I don't want her mad."

"Kiddo, she's a nice person and I'm sure she's not mad."

After they were both asleep, I wondered about Chris' abrupt departure. She had seemed friendly and relaxed until Luke mentioned the singles cruise. Maybe she was upset the kids knew I was going on one, but I didn't think they knew the nature of some of these cruises. Some are poorly-disguised sex parties, though the one I was scheduled for seemed more modest. I eventually had my nighttime scotch and fell asleep in no time.

A week later their grandparents came down to our place to stay with the kids. All four of them were excited to be together for a week. Zoey and Luke dragged Dad back to look at the bird houses and Mom escorted me outside.

"I'm so glad you are going to get away, Adam. Enjoy yourself, I mean it. But be careful. You are a fine man and you don't want to get serious too quickly. Think of the kids."

"Thanks, Mom. I'll take is slow. I'm actually looking forward to a week where I can't do work and I can't be responsible for the kids. Maybe it will unclutter my mind."

"I hope so. Take care."

On the next morning I took a flight to Miami and a Lyft to the port where I checked into my berth on the ship. By midafternoon we sailed and I found myself taking a power nap right before dinner.

Dinner the first night was a casual buffet designed to get people to mingle. There were dozens of nice-looking women though some of them appeared to be fairly predatory. Eventually I met up with a petite blonde woman from Seattle whose name was Diana. We chatted some and since the noise level in the dining room was quite high, I suggested we go outside. We walked around the deck for a while, giving our brief life stories to each other. She offered me sympathy on losing Emily, though I did not mention the suicide. Diana was a divorcee who apparently was goaded into taking this trip by her girlfriends. She mentioned they felt she needed to "get out and kick up her heels," so she signed up for the trip.

Eventually we sat down on some deck chairs, stretched out and watched the stars. Our hands were fairly close on our armrests when she reached over and put hers on mine. We continued to talk about this and that until it got a tiny bit chilly and I was aware of her shivering.

"A lady from Seattle shivering in the Caribbean? That's odd," I teased her.

"Normally I would be wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, not some flimsy sun dress," she responded.

"Let's get inside and get you warm, OK?"

"Sure," she answered as we stood up. We walked up to the bow end of the dining room with her wrapping her hand around my arm. She continued to shiver so I loosened her hold and slipped my arm around her back. "Mmm, feels nice," she murmured.

Back in the dining room there was a band playing so we danced to some fast music until we were giddy. The music slowed and I held her in my arms. This was the closest I had been to a new woman since well before Emily and I got engaged. It felt warm. It felt very nice. Diana had some nice curves and her full breasts pressed into my lower chest. I started to get hard and was embarrassed so I tried to pull away.

"Don't, please. It's nice to know I still have that effect on a man," she whispered as she pushed her pelvis in closer. I held her in my arms for several tunes until she stretched up and kissed me lightly on my upper chest. "Adam, would you like to escort me to my room?"

"Sure, gladly," I answered and led her from the dance floor. At her room she invited me in. She had a fairly nice berth with a generous window and a double bed. There was a small refreshment center and I accepted a scotch while she had a glass of wine. We toasted each other silently before she looked at me and said, "Adam, I'm going to be pretty blunt. I'd like to invite you to my bed. It's been a long time since I've slept with anyone and, quite frankly, I'm horny. You look like a nice guy, so..."

"I, uh, I guess I should be honored."

"No," she laughed, "You should be pulling at my dress. This is sex, pure and simple, not love. Are you still interested?"

My answer was to reach over to her, slip the glass from her hand and lower my head to her for a kiss. Our lips teased and played and our tongues joined in. She was an extraordinarily sensual kisser who could alternate between soft little flutters of the lips and deep, passionate probing with the tongue. I found myself getting increasingly excited, particularly when she pulled my hand to her breast. I felt and teased her beaded nipple through the thin top. My shirt buttons were pulled apart and she reached in and started stroking my nipples.

I took a few seconds to open the top of her dress before I nudged her to stand up. Once she did, I slowly reached down, grabbed the hem of her dress and slowly pulled it up. Her panties were thin little things which barely hid a landing strip of fur. Her hips were full and shapely and her belly had a tiny bit of pudginess. Up went the dress until her bare breasts popped free. They were true beauties, full with a slight hint of sag and round, pink areolae capped with tiny, beaded nipples. As she reached up and pulled the dress free, I leaned over to savor their wonderful taste. As I sucked, I could taste a faint musky flavor.

Eventually she sighed, "You know what to do with nipples. What about pussies?"

"There's only one way to find out. Here, let me slip these down," I replied as I tugged at her panties. Then she was standing nude in front of me, a very attractive woman eager for sex. She quickly pulled my belt off, undid my pants and shucked down my boxers. My erection was prominent and she reached for it and said, "I have condoms for later, but I seem to remember something about oral sex."

I smiled back at her, leaned her down over the bed and began to kiss her slowly, starting at the mouth. I held myself above her with my cock making lazy circles on her thighs. As I kissed lower, I spent time on her nipples to her obvious delight. Her hums and moans were like music to my ears, music which I had not heard in years. I spent a little time moving south, tickling her innie with my tongue before I reached her landing strip. I gently licked it as I went down and parted her lips with my finger tip. She was soaking wet and I pulled up some of her honey to moisten her clit to her obvious delight. I kept kissing around and around, not quite on her clit as I let my thumb continue to stimulate her.